Lolz

September 30, 2005

Saw it this afternoon. If you haven't seen it yet, as is likely the case, do so now. Stand up, step away from the computer, and go to the nearest theater showing it. Now. See, it's not just ridiculously good sci-fi, it's also an anti-imperialist (more specifically, anti-Iraq-war) treatise. So no wonder liberal bloggers are lapping it up. I wasn't even that big of a Buffy/Firefly nut, and I loved it. So, yeah. About that leaving the computer.

September 28, 2005

Usually, when a corrupt scumbag resigns from a leadership post, he's supposed to be replaced by someone with just a bit of integrity. Turns out that the House Republican leadership didn't exactly do that. Roy Blunt:

Divorced his wife to marry a tobacco lobbyist.

Has a tobacco/shipping industry lobbyist as his son and has repeatedly worked for this son's (and his wife's) interests, which violates both House rules and federal law.

Has engaged in very sketchy campaign finance deals to help his other son, now the governor of Missouri.

Brad Plumer says it's time for them to move beyond Ally McBeal and into real life. Cue Phyllis Schlafly hissy-fit. He has a point, you know. The sexual tension argument against them seems quite homophobic. And as he points out, transgendered persons would suffer a lot less. The main non-nutcase argument against them seems to be that they would lead to an increase in sexual assaults. But it's not like rapists don't sneak into lady's rooms as it is. I'd have no problem with it.

Further confirming that Matt Yglesias has the best taste in the blogosphere, it turns out he's a New Pornographers fan. Ignoring the name, which is great because you can use it to freak people out, they're Canadian power-pop carried out to perfection. And unlike most bands, their new album (Twin Cinema), especially its title track, is better than its earlier stuff (though both the title track and Letter from an Occupant on Mass Romantic are great). Anyway, buy their stuff. Now.

David Bernstein, one of the nuttier Volokh Conspirators, says this in response to a professor calling originalism the mark of "real hard-line, right-wing conservatives":

Was James Madison a "Hard-line, Right-Wing Conservative?

Um…no, but that's because he lived in the 18th century. See, times tend to do a little thing I like to call "changing". Usually, this change is to the left. If you compare the welfare services provided now as compared to the 18th century, the social autonomy given by the government now as compared to then, and the amount of discrimination now as compared to then, I think you'll find that the country has taken a decisive turn to the left. This pretty much always happens. It's just funny to see conservatives try to live with it.

Kevin Drum shouldn't feel bad about having only read 14 of the ALA's list of frequently challenged books. For one thing, most of them are either sex-ed books (It's Perfectly Normal), kids books (Goosebumps) or both (Heather Has Two Mommies). I've only read 8, myself. But while some of these were obvious (such as The New Joy of Gay Sex, a book that probably gives Pat Robertson convulsions), others were mind-boggling. What the @#$% are A Wrinkle in Time, James and the Giant Peach, Where's Waldo, A Light in the Attic and In the Night Kitchen doing here? Those are probably the most innocent children's books I can think of. Others, it seems obvious, are only blocked because of racism; why else would To Kill a Mockingbird, Beloved, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, The Color Purple or Native Son be on here? And people still seem to have a strange obsession with witchcraft; Harry Potter, The Witches by Roald Dahl, and Halloween ABC are featured prominently. Ah…people are so crazy, aren't they?